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Dorothy Porter
| birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = December | death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | occupation = Poet | nationality = Australian | education = Queenwood School for Girls | alma_mater = University of Sydney | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Dorothy Featherstone Porter (26 March 1954 - 10 December 2008) was an Australian poet. Life Porter was born in Sydney. Her father was barrister Chester Porter and her mother, Jean, was a high school chemistry teacher. Porter attended the Queenwood School for Girls. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English and History.AustLit, the Australian Literature Resource. Porter was an open lesbian and in 1993 moved to Melbourne to be with her partner and fellow writer, Andrea Goldsmith. The couple were coincidentally both shortlisted in the 2003 Miles Franklin Award for literature. In 2009, Porter was posthumously recognised by the website Samesame.com.au as one of the most influential gay and lesbian Australians."25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians 2009" at Samesame.com.au Porter was a self-described pagan, committed to pagan principles of courage, stoicism and commitment to the earth and beauty. Porter's most recent publication, her fifth verse novel, was El Dorado, about a serial child killer. The book was nominated for several awards including the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2007 and for Best Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards."Dorothy Porter dies" by Matthew Buchanan, The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 December 2008 Since her death, The Bee Hut (2009) has been published posthumously, as has her final completed work, an essay on literary criticism and emotions and literature entitled On Passion. Porter, who found many outlets for writing including fiction for young adults and libretti for chamber opera, was working on a rock opera called January with Tim Finn at the time of her death. Porter had been suffering from breast cancer for four years before her death, but "many thought she was winning the battle," according to journalist Matt Buchanan. In the last three weeks of her life she became very sick and was admitted to hospital, where she was in intensive care for the final ten days. She died aged 54 on 10 December 2008. Recognition Porter's awards include The Age Book of the Year for poetry, the National Book Council Award for The Monkey's Mask and the FAW Christopher Brennan Award for poetry. Two of her verse novels were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award: What a Piece of Work in 2000 and Wild Surmise in 2003. In 2000, the film The Monkey's Mask was made of her verse novel of the same name. In 2005 her libretto, The Eternity Man, co-written with composer Jonathan Mills, was performed at the Sydney Festival.McCallum, Peter: Review: The Eternity Man, The Age, 24 January 2005. On 21 February 2010, actress Cate Blanchett read excerpts from Porter's posthumously published short work on literary criticism and emotions in literature, On Passion at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne."Blanchett delivers Porter's 'Passion'" by Frances Atkinson, The Age, 22 February 2010 Publications Poetry *''Little Hoodlum. Sydney: Poetry Society of Australia / Prism, 1975. *Bison. Sydney: Prism, 1979. *The Night Parrot. Wentworth Falls, NSW: Black Lightning Press, 1984. *Driving too Fast. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1989. *Crete. South Melbourne, Vic: Hyland House, 1996. *Other Worlds: Poems, 1997–2001. Sydney: Picador / Pan Macmillan, 2001. *Poems, January–August 2004. Sydney: Vagabond Press, 2004.Dorothy Porter (1954-2008), Australian Poetry Library, Web, Mar. 17, 2012. * ''Little Hoodlum, and other poems. Warners Bay, NSW: Picaro Press, 2005. *''The Bee Hut''. Melbourne: Black Inc., 2009. *"Love Poems". Collingwood, Vic: Black Inc., 2010. *''The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter''. Collingwood, Vic: Black Inc., 2013. Novels *''What a Piece of Work'' (verse novel). Sydney: Picador, 1999. *''Akhenaten'' (verse novel). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1992; London: Serpent's Tail, 1999. *''The Monkey's Mask'' (verse novel). South Melbourne, Vic: Hyland House, 1994; Auckland, NZ: Vintage, 1994; New York: Arcade, 1994. *''Wild Surmise'' (verse novel)). Sydney: Picador, 2002. *''El Dorado'' (verse novel). Sydney: Pan Macmillan, 2007. Non-fiction *''On Passion''. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2010. Juvenile *''Rookwood''. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1991. *''The Witch Number''. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1993. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Dorothy Porter, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 17, 2015. Libretti (with composer Jonathan Mills) *''The Ghost Wife'' (2000) *''The Eternity Man'' (2005) Lyrics *''Before Time Could Change Us'' (2005), music by Paul Grabowsky, performed by the Paul Grabowsky/Katie Noonan Quintet See also *List of Australian poets References External links * Dorothy Porter (Australia, 1954-2008) at Poetry International (5 poems). *Dorothy Porter (1954-2008) in the Australian Poetry Library (1,065 poems). ;Audio / video *Dorothy Porter at YouTube *On Passion: The late and love poetry of Dorothy Porter, Australian Broadcasting Corporation ;About *Dorothy Porter at AustLit *Australian poet Dorothy Porter dies aged 54 - The Age *Dorothy Porter obituary at The Guardian *Dorothy Porter wiki *Vale Dorothy Porter, interview in Cordite Poetry Review, by poet Peter Minter, 1998 Category:Australian opera librettists Category:Australian poets Category:Australian women writers Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:Lesbian writers Category:LGBT writers from Australia Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:Cancer deaths in Victoria (Australia) Category:Australian musical theatre librettists Category:1954 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Australian novelists Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Women poets